News

2013-06-28

ASIA/PAKISTAN - The Church launches the "Community Protection Groups" of religious minorities

Karachi (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Church in Karachi launches special groups to protect religious minorities, in particular Christians, from violence and terrorism. As reported in a note sent to Fides, in a seminar held in Karachi on 26 and 27 June, the Commission "Justice and Peace" of the Conference of Major Superiors of religious orders in Pakistan tried to find techniques and effective ways to help the faithful to face the emergence of violence that crosses the village and often affects the community and the Christian faithful.
For this reason, the Commission organized 15 "Community Protection Groups" formed by Christians of different denominations, from Pastors, lawyers, doctors and other professionals. The groups set up by the Commission will control sectarian violence or serious acts of discrimination against Christians, helping to promote law and justice in Pakistan.
Rasheed Gill, a lay Catholic, animator of the Commission "Justice and Peace", explains to Fides: "Security in the country gets worse and worse. In recent weeks, fundamentalists and terrorists attacked the common people, police officers, prisoners, lawyers, mosques, tourists. We want to support and protect the most marginalized religious minorities through awareness programs. " The special "protection groups" operate in different areas of the country, monitoring human rights violations, providing assistance to the Commission also from a legal point of view.
Pastor Nasir John, part of the team, told Fides: "These groups fill a big void: many Christians, due to problems of violence are forced to leave their jobs or change city." Also in Pakistan religious minorities, such as Christians and Hindus, do not feed corruption: they do not pay bribes to police officers or judges, who often, for this reason, penalize them, discriminate against them or condemn them. (AG-PA) (Agenzia Fides 28/06/2013)